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Uh.. title?
There's a few points to consider:
- There's some thoughts above about how you don't need to upgrade, and I suppose by corollary, that you do need to.
Windows 7 will not stop functioning on whatever date, at least as far as we know (there's no evidence to support that it will and it'd be highly unusual). So in this respect, you don't need to upgrade.
What will cease is security updates. These prevent nasty unintended security holes from being exploited. For a user that is not technical, these are basically a must. For those of us who are technical, its still cause for concern unless you have other mitigating factors and even then, you want to think very carefully. Viruses, exploits, malware, these are real things and having an anti-virus is only part of a protection regime.
I would recommend an upgrade, but don't assume it will be all sunshine and rainbows. Hopefully it will be, don't assume though.
- Consider Linux. If all you're doing is web-browsing, then something like Ubuntu on an older machine will work absolutely fine. What's even better is that you can boot of a USB key with Linux on it and try it out, all without touching the windows installation. If its nice, you can look at it installing it. If its not, reboot and unplug the usb key and off you go.
I won't say Linux is better than Windows or vice versa: its not the time or the place. Each has advantages and disadvantages and it is as much down to personal preference as it is to technical requirements (well mostly anyway).
Source for the above: working in IT for 15 years, currently a system administrator/devops engineer.
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